Another 'recommend me' thread - laptop!

[Aneres11]

Hey hey.

 

My boyfriend wants a laptop to use generally round the house for web browsing, email etc, connecting his phone to etc.

I told him I'd look for him as I'm generally more into tech stuff than him.

 

I have only ever used Apple computers and looking at what laptop running windows to buy is proving tricky.

There's so god damn many. Chromebook, ultrabook, whut?!

 

So. His budget is £500 max. It does not need to be spec heavy as he isn't playing games or running software that requires a beast of a machine.

It's very light use just to use casually.

 

Ideally, something running Windows would be better. I don't know if these chrome books run windows? And something that doesn't look like a Fisher Price toy - of which there are many, from the look I've had.

 

I have no clue where to go with this as I feel like there's just that much choice.

Does anyone a bit more clued up have any recommendations? Or any advice on what is good and what should generally be avoided?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

_____

 

EDIT - Oh, and 13" screen and under!

Edited May 25, 2015 by Aneres11

[Nolan]

Surface 3.

 

Ultraportable, decent enough power vs. battery life for it's size, versatile works as a tablet (the optional pen works great) the keyboard is decently solid and great for it's size range. Runs Windows 8.1 so you get a crappy app store, but a solid enough OS. For general light computing it's great.

 

I'm not really up to spec on laptops anymore, I do know fuck Lenovo for their whole privacy SNAFU lately which is sad because I use to recommend them for solid built and respectable pricing.

[Aneres11]

@Nolan - he still hasn't decided but wants something like £300 and under so the Surface is out of the question.

 

However. I looked at one of them today. Brilliant piece of tech!

I really loved it!

Wasn't massive on the keyboard to be honest, felt like the overall quality of it could be slightly better, but it was decent enough.

Screen is nice and crisp on it and the touch screen OS works better than I thought it would tbh. Plus, the pen comes in very handy when you need to click links that are a little small and a finger is just a bit too big.

 

I was thoroughly impressed with it and ended up standing messing about with one for 15 minutes whilst he wandered off elsewhere!

[Nolan]

@Nolan - he still hasn't decided but wants something like £300 and under so the Surface is out of the question.

 

However. I looked at one of them today. Brilliant piece of tech!

I really loved it!

Wasn't massive on the keyboard to be honest, felt like the overall quality of it could be slightly better, but it was decent enough.

Screen is nice and crisp on it and the touch screen OS works better than I thought it would tbh. Plus, the pen comes in very handy when you need to click links that are a little small and a finger is just a bit too big.

 

I was thoroughly impressed with it and ended up standing messing about with one for 15 minutes whilst he wandered off elsewhere!

 

Ahh, you said 500 max previously which is the only reason I suggested the Surface. I have a Surface Pro and quite love it.

 

It is a great piece of tech really, when I go back to a normal laptop I find my self prodding the screen wondering why it's not working before I remember it's not touch enabled. The keyboard isn't great no, but perfectly on par with netbooks and good for being an add on. The trackpad is a little odd though.

 

I enjoy the pen if I'm feeling froggy, and want to write out urls and stuff. The writing to text is neat and rather accurate but slower than typing for myself.

 

Honestly doing what you guys did and checking out whats in store is usually the best way to decide what you want when you just need something for light use.

[Aneres11]

Yeah he said £500 max and then ended up saying today he didn't want to spend over £300 after I checked out the Surface and was like buy one of theeeeeeese!

But he was majorly indecisive!

 

It's tricky really as a lot of sub £300 laptops are complete shite. Like the screens are terrible, the build quality is terrible and you either pay for a tiny notebook with rubbish specs or an old school massive 15 inch laptop that's like having a concrete slab on your knee.

 

I'm also not sure on the touch screen laptops. The Surface, yes, because it is a tablet / laptop hybrid and it seemed to work from the brief go I had, but actual laptops - nah!

 

I'm glad it's not me making the decision. Although if it was me I'd have been home by late morning clutching my new Surface 3 eager to set it up! I'll have a word with him ha.

[Nolan]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I played with the surface one to many times in store and came home with one.

 

Laptops are oversaturated but other than cheap build quality, most are capable these days spec wise. Even netbooks.

 

 

Oh, one last thing about the surface to keep in mind, it may be semi affordable but the keyboard and pen are separate and add significantly to the cost.